1 00:00:01,110 --> 00:00:10,609 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,609 --> 00:00:15,349 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:15,689 --> 00:00:23,050 Today, completing our series, what are 12 things that America has given to the world 4 00:00:23,050 --> 00:00:28,730 as good gifts that have never been seen throughout history anywhere else. 5 00:00:28,730 --> 00:00:35,810 It is thrilling to me that we have arrived at our 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation, 6 00:00:36,549 --> 00:00:42,090 declaring ourselves independent from the motherland of England with the instrument of 7 00:00:42,090 --> 00:00:48,409 separation, our very own Declaration of Independence. In reality, the number of good 8 00:00:48,409 --> 00:00:54,689 things that the United States of America has bequeathed to an enslaved world are many more 9 00:00:54,689 --> 00:01:00,670 than 12. But for the sake of brevity, I have chosen 12 of the most important, at least to my 10 00:01:00,670 --> 00:01:06,790 mind, 12 of the most important things that America has given as good gifts to the world. And perhaps 11 00:01:06,790 --> 00:01:13,390 you have more in mind. I'd love to hear them. One thing I know for sure, as long as free men live 12 00:01:13,390 --> 00:01:19,870 and fight and labor together, the good things we Americans have given will be used and practiced 13 00:01:19,870 --> 00:01:27,530 and appreciated. Thus far, we have unfolded nine of them. The first nine, number one, a Republican 14 00:01:27,530 --> 00:01:36,090 constitution founded on an idea rather than tribe or race. Number two, a written constitution composed 15 00:01:36,090 --> 00:01:43,989 in a brief period of time rather than traditions developed over centuries. Number three, a system 16 00:01:43,989 --> 00:01:51,890 whereby power is transferred in an orderly, peaceable fashion. Number four, fourth good gift, our founding 17 00:01:51,890 --> 00:02:00,090 fathers succinctly, explicitly acknowledged our rights derived from God and not government. Number five, 18 00:02:00,390 --> 00:02:08,710 the United States of America is a nation which self-consciously ended slavery. Good gift number six, 19 00:02:08,710 --> 00:02:16,430 while Christianity was and is intended to be the religion of the people. There was no established 20 00:02:16,430 --> 00:02:24,129 state church. Very important in history. Number seven, the patent guaranteed to inventors and authors 21 00:02:24,129 --> 00:02:30,789 and creators of all kinds, the right to the fruits of our labors. Oh, this was a real incentive for 22 00:02:30,789 --> 00:02:41,189 economic growth. Number eight, gift, the USA thrived for 125 years with no tax on personal income and or 23 00:02:41,189 --> 00:02:48,229 property. Oh, and then good gift number nine, a nation in which the supreme command of the military forces 24 00:02:48,229 --> 00:02:55,969 is vested in a civilian executive. That is a president, the first nine of those good gifts. Today, I'd like to 25 00:02:55,969 --> 00:03:02,830 complete that pristine dozen with three final good gifts that the United States of America has given 26 00:03:02,830 --> 00:03:07,949 to the world that will be cherished wherever free men live, fight, and labor together. And that is number 27 00:03:07,949 --> 00:03:16,229 10 now. We have a nation which self-consciously educated their populist children and immigrants 28 00:03:16,229 --> 00:03:24,189 in the principles of a Christian constitutional republic. Yes, we must. We must get back to this. 29 00:03:24,189 --> 00:03:31,750 We were a nation that self-consciously educated our populist children and immigrants in the principles 30 00:03:31,750 --> 00:03:38,229 of a Christian constitutional republic. Now, this good gift is a corollary really of good gift number 31 00:03:38,229 --> 00:03:45,449 one. We have a Republican constitution founded on an idea rather than a tribe or race. A civilization 32 00:03:45,449 --> 00:03:51,990 founded on tribal traditions or racial cohesion doesn't need to self-consciously educate the people. 33 00:03:51,990 --> 00:03:56,789 They are raised in the ways of the tribe and the race from birth. They're born into them. It's their 34 00:03:56,789 --> 00:04:02,629 mother's milk, so to speak. The gods, ancestors, myths, history, and customs are inculcated by the 35 00:04:02,629 --> 00:04:07,409 fathers, the chieftains, the shaman of the tribe around the dinner table, campfire, and festivals 36 00:04:07,409 --> 00:04:16,089 of the tribe, right? Books, classes, abstract ideas like liberty, a written constitution, or separation of 37 00:04:16,089 --> 00:04:23,069 powers is utterly foreign to the civilizations of history. The idea that anyone outside of the tribe 38 00:04:23,069 --> 00:04:29,629 or the racial clan could become a citizen was laughably absurd to most people at the time of our 39 00:04:29,629 --> 00:04:37,410 founding. As my tribe, the Dutch, used to say, if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much. Therefore, if one were 40 00:04:37,410 --> 00:04:43,949 to become a citizen of such a country where citizenship depended upon a fundamental grasp of an idea 41 00:04:43,949 --> 00:04:49,949 versus a tribal or ethnic bloodline, then a working knowledge of that idea was paramount. 42 00:04:50,430 --> 00:04:55,850 How could you become a vital citizen of a country founded an idea when you had no clue as to what 43 00:04:55,850 --> 00:05:02,610 that idea was, right? Consequently, a thorough program of education in the principles of a 44 00:05:02,610 --> 00:05:09,089 constitutional republic is required in a free constitutional republic. The point we want to 45 00:05:09,089 --> 00:05:15,889 emphasize is that liberty is learnt. It is not lavished naturally. George Washington put it this 46 00:05:15,889 --> 00:05:22,110 way. He said, a primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. 47 00:05:22,629 --> 00:05:29,069 In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? What duty more pressing than 48 00:05:29,069 --> 00:05:35,490 the communication of it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country? 49 00:05:35,490 --> 00:05:43,189 George Washington. Only through patient, consistent teaching of constitutional principles could an 50 00:05:43,189 --> 00:05:49,149 otherwise ignorant populace learn to govern themselves in true liberty. Thomas Jefferson 51 00:05:49,149 --> 00:05:55,129 warned that, he said, and I quote, a tyranny of government will follow unless the people at large 52 00:05:55,129 --> 00:06:01,970 were educated at the common expense of all, unquote. Jefferson also understood the importance of 53 00:06:01,970 --> 00:06:08,230 educating the general public in the principles of a constitutional republic. He said, and I quote, 54 00:06:08,350 --> 00:06:14,250 the most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate, 55 00:06:14,250 --> 00:06:20,889 as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge 56 00:06:20,889 --> 00:06:27,069 of those facts which history exhibits, that possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and 57 00:06:27,069 --> 00:06:34,790 countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes and prompt to exert their natural 58 00:06:34,790 --> 00:06:42,370 powers to defeat its purposes, unquote. In other words, tyranny can only be defeated when the people 59 00:06:42,370 --> 00:06:49,310 are sufficiently educated to recognize it when it rears its ugly head. This is precisely why tyranny 60 00:06:49,310 --> 00:06:56,610 thrives in America today. We do not know ambition under all its shapes, as Jefferson says, and therefore, 61 00:06:56,610 --> 00:07:03,490 we allow it to thrive, as long as we get our perks, that is. Do we understand the value of history? 62 00:07:04,189 --> 00:07:09,930 A systematic exposure to, as Jefferson puts it, the knowledge of those facts which history exhibits, 63 00:07:10,589 --> 00:07:17,990 a systematic exposure to that would go a long ways toward waking up this clueless generation who are 64 00:07:17,990 --> 00:07:23,670 obsessed with affordability, the new buzzword, and clicks and blue checks on their social media accounts, 65 00:07:23,670 --> 00:07:30,250 like clueless puppies with a shiny bauble. They're being hypnotized by the false promises of socialism 66 00:07:30,250 --> 00:07:37,689 dangled in front of them by fraudsters like Mayor Mom Donnie in New York. There is a reason that the 67 00:07:37,689 --> 00:07:45,509 public school system no longer teaches American history and civics and government, because if they 68 00:07:45,509 --> 00:07:52,089 did, we would realize how we have been had, deliberately deceived in having our liberties stolen from us 69 00:07:52,089 --> 00:07:57,870 over the decades, and we would throw the bombs out. The deliberate strategy of Marxism is this, 70 00:07:58,209 --> 00:08:04,970 historical blackout. Just as London went stone cold black at night when German bombers flew their 71 00:08:04,970 --> 00:08:09,430 missions overhead in World War II, turning out their lights and curtaining their apartments, 72 00:08:09,430 --> 00:08:16,269 so Marxists used this metaphor for turning out the lights of history so that the people are in the 73 00:08:16,269 --> 00:08:23,189 stone cold dark, ignorant of their past and how they went from liberty to slavery at the hands of evil 74 00:08:23,189 --> 00:08:30,449 men like those that rule over us today in the United States of America. Dear listener, liberty is 75 00:08:30,449 --> 00:08:38,669 learnt, not lavished naturally. Parents, teacher children, inculcate history and the principles of a 76 00:08:38,669 --> 00:08:45,230 constitutional republic. It is a gift that the United States of America has given to the world. 77 00:08:46,090 --> 00:08:52,990 The 11th good gift that America has given to the world, never seen before on the stage of history, 78 00:08:53,129 --> 00:09:02,470 is number 11, a record of prosperity and happiness unmatched in human history. Yes, the United States 79 00:09:02,470 --> 00:09:12,029 of America has given the world a record of prosperity and happiness unmatched in human history. Do it our way and 80 00:09:12,029 --> 00:09:19,750 you'll experience this. In the future, if the world searches the records of history for the civilization which brought the 81 00:09:19,750 --> 00:09:28,470 highest level of prosperity and human happiness to the common man, then without doubt, the United States of America will come in first. The 82 00:09:28,470 --> 00:09:39,549 the founding fathers set forth the basic principle. We the people. Oh, with my new technology, search assist. 83 00:09:40,149 --> 00:09:47,210 After combing the historical record, search assist concluded, and I quote, the United States has created 84 00:09:47,210 --> 00:09:54,090 more total private wealth than any other nation in history, unquote. Now that's a major qualifier in that 85 00:09:54,090 --> 00:10:01,470 conclusion, more total private wealth than any other nation in history. Many other nations and empires over the course of 86 00:10:01,470 --> 00:10:09,350 human history have amassed tremendous incalculable wealth. For instance, the Egyptian empire, enduring for almost 87 00:10:09,350 --> 00:10:17,929 4,000 years, one might expect such an empire to amass great wealth, and they did. But as one banking website observes, 88 00:10:17,929 --> 00:10:28,490 the vast majority of ancient Egyptians, it turns out, were dirt poor. The empire's unimaginable wealth 89 00:10:28,490 --> 00:10:36,230 was almost solely concentrated at the top of the social pyramid among the pharaohs, priests, and to a lesser 90 00:10:36,230 --> 00:10:44,129 degree, scribes, architects, engineers, and other privileged tradespeople, unquote. Yes. Or the Mesopotamian 91 00:10:44,129 --> 00:10:51,009 empire. For example, Mesopotamia means between the rivers, that is the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. 92 00:10:52,049 --> 00:10:58,129 Mesopotamia was a tremendously rich and fertile region of the Middle East, fostered incredible wealth 93 00:10:58,129 --> 00:11:04,529 for untold centuries, and most historians believe this region was the cradle of civilization, as they 94 00:11:04,529 --> 00:11:10,610 call it. Everything from the wheel, to the written language, to the first currency, were all developed 95 00:11:10,610 --> 00:11:17,490 here. Even the Garden of Eden is thought to be located somewhere in this region. Or there's the Mali empire. 96 00:11:18,049 --> 00:11:28,210 This little-known nexus of power and influence and wealth was located in Timbuktu, Africa. Timbuktu flourished 97 00:11:28,210 --> 00:11:38,690 at its peak between AD 1280 and 1337. And the website gobankingrates.com says that the leader of the 98 00:11:38,690 --> 00:11:45,570 West African kingdom of Mali, and I quote, was so rich that his wealth can't possibly be calculated, 99 00:11:45,570 --> 00:11:53,970 unquote. That's wealthy. That king was Mansa Musa, who historians believe was the richest single 100 00:11:53,970 --> 00:12:00,129 individual to ever live. Half of the gold in all the world came from Mali, and it was all his. 101 00:12:00,129 --> 00:12:08,769 Well, the one thing these and almost all other empires shared in common was that, as the website 102 00:12:08,769 --> 00:12:16,210 gobankrates.com observes, they say, and I quote, wealth was almost solely concentrated at the top 103 00:12:16,210 --> 00:12:23,169 of the social pyramid. Yeah. So, while there were certainly empires where tremendous wealth accrued 104 00:12:23,169 --> 00:12:30,009 to a few privileged classes of people, the average Joe saw none of it. He had to be content with his 105 00:12:30,009 --> 00:12:35,970 hut, loincloth, and bowl of porridge. And while it's difficult to calculate the annual income of the 106 00:12:35,970 --> 00:12:41,809 average man in history, we do have some good data points. First of all, the average annual income 107 00:12:41,809 --> 00:12:49,649 for the common man in Judea during Jesus' time was 200 to 300 denarii. Now, that was enough to buy 108 00:12:49,649 --> 00:12:56,850 one's daily bread, as Jesus calls it, and little else. And then, a laborer in England during the 109 00:12:56,850 --> 00:13:04,129 Middle Ages averaged about $500 per annum. Now, his buying power was greater than $500 about a day, 110 00:13:04,129 --> 00:13:12,610 but it was still a poor man's income. And the website, visualcapitalist.com, visualcapitalist.com. 111 00:13:12,610 --> 00:13:19,570 This website has some interesting information, an interesting graph that shows the average income 112 00:13:19,570 --> 00:13:28,450 by world region from 1820 to 2020, a period of 200 years, a valuable time span. The United States 113 00:13:28,450 --> 00:13:37,730 of America dominates every year, growing that average annual income from around $2,500 in 1820 114 00:13:37,730 --> 00:13:45,330 to $58,000 per annum in 2020. No other country, whether in Western Europe, East Asia, Middle East, 115 00:13:45,330 --> 00:13:50,210 or Latin America even came close. All Latin American countries combined, for instance, 116 00:13:50,210 --> 00:13:58,529 went from a few hundred dollars per year in 1820 to only just under $14,000 in 2020. This is why we can 117 00:13:58,529 --> 00:14:06,769 say the United States has created more total private wealth than any other nation in history. When you hear 118 00:14:06,769 --> 00:14:14,049 the socialist and communist in America today disparage and tear down our country, keep this truth in mind. 119 00:14:14,049 --> 00:14:22,929 Even the poorest indigent in America is richer than anyone anywhere else. Why are desperate souls 120 00:14:22,929 --> 00:14:30,049 trying to storm our ramparts to get into America, dear listener? Perhaps they adore the awful, 121 00:14:30,049 --> 00:14:37,970 the aging white female liberals who condescendingly take their side and who constitute the majority of the 122 00:14:37,970 --> 00:14:46,690 Democrat Party. Or perhaps these desperate immigrants are self-righteous progressives who are indignant at 123 00:14:46,690 --> 00:14:55,090 all of the racism and injustice here, and they want to correct it. Au contraire. No, the immigrants 124 00:14:55,090 --> 00:15:02,850 migrating to America, they seek a better life, more economic opportunities, and freedom like they cannot 125 00:15:02,850 --> 00:15:11,570 find in their countries of origin. Appointing a national fast day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said, 126 00:15:11,570 --> 00:15:18,049 We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years 127 00:15:18,049 --> 00:15:25,730 in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown." 128 00:15:25,730 --> 00:15:33,889 Unquote. And Ben Franklin, when he was ambassador to France, he told the French that God showed his 129 00:15:33,889 --> 00:15:40,690 favor to us, and I quote, by the remarkable prosperity with which he has been pleased to favor the whole 130 00:15:40,690 --> 00:15:47,730 country. Unquote. And Patrick Henry said this about us. I love this quote. Patrick Henry said, 131 00:15:47,730 --> 00:15:56,610 It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, 132 00:15:56,610 --> 00:16:03,330 but by Christians. Not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, 133 00:16:03,730 --> 00:16:11,009 peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here. Unquote. 134 00:16:11,649 --> 00:16:16,929 All of these are still true, dear listener, and they still obtain. In your darkest moments, 135 00:16:16,929 --> 00:16:23,490 do not despair. Always keep in mind that you live in a land where opportunities still exist to 136 00:16:23,490 --> 00:16:30,769 prosper and flourish as nowhere else. So keep your perspective. As Lee Greenwood so eloquently put it, 137 00:16:30,769 --> 00:16:37,409 if tomorrow all the things were gone, I worked for all my life, and I had to start again with just my 138 00:16:37,409 --> 00:16:44,690 children and my wife, I thank my lucky stars to be living here today, because the flag still stands for 139 00:16:44,690 --> 00:16:52,769 freedom. And they can't take that away. Yes. That's why immigrants come here indeed. And that's why you 140 00:16:52,769 --> 00:16:58,769 should be thankful to God for living here as well. Don't let the communists and the progressives take 141 00:16:58,769 --> 00:17:06,289 that away. The United States of America will be remembered in history. If not now, then in the future, 142 00:17:06,289 --> 00:17:14,769 we will be remembered in history as the most prosperous nation in history because of God's providence 143 00:17:14,769 --> 00:17:24,450 and the liberty afforded us by the Constitution. Well, our 12th and final good gift that America has 144 00:17:24,450 --> 00:17:31,650 given to history that will be a consistent heritage of the world is number 12. We have given the world a 145 00:17:31,650 --> 00:17:39,009 heritage of liberty rooted and grounded in biblical principle. Yes, a heritage of liberty rooted and 146 00:17:39,009 --> 00:17:45,569 grounded in biblical principle. One of the profound ironies of our time is that the enemies of our 147 00:17:45,569 --> 00:17:52,529 constitutional republic and the enemies of the United States of America in general and its founding, 148 00:17:52,529 --> 00:17:58,849 they would not even have a concept of the freedom they so passionately argue for were it not for 149 00:17:58,849 --> 00:18:04,849 our Lord Jesus Christ and the principles he established for personal freedom for the common 150 00:18:04,849 --> 00:18:12,210 man. When the Communist Manifesto proclaims workers of the world unite, all you have to lose is your 151 00:18:12,210 --> 00:18:18,609 chains. Their very concept of freedom for the individual worker is rooted and grounded in the 152 00:18:18,609 --> 00:18:24,930 biblical principle of freedom for the individual believer. Yes. All of the ignorance of this is 153 00:18:24,930 --> 00:18:32,289 profound. The irony is mind boggling to me. Personal freedom throughout the long sad history of mankind 154 00:18:32,289 --> 00:18:39,890 was the privilege of a few, the elite, the ruling class. The lot of the common man was limited. And as 155 00:18:39,890 --> 00:18:47,490 the philosopher and historian Thomas Hobbes put it in his 17th century work, Leviathan, he said that life 156 00:18:47,490 --> 00:18:54,609 for the common man throughout history was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. 157 00:18:54,930 --> 00:19:07,250 In general, we find that the lot of the common man was that he was born, lived in, and died within a 50 158 00:19:07,250 --> 00:19:17,089 mile radius of his home village. Yes. There was no such thing as freedom of movement. I moved to the Idaho 159 00:19:17,089 --> 00:19:24,529 region back in the 1990s from Chicago. I got out while it was still, the getting was still good. 160 00:19:25,329 --> 00:19:32,130 I wouldn't have been able to do that back in ancient times. No. Well, the common man also followed 161 00:19:32,130 --> 00:19:37,809 generally in the footsteps of his father, practicing the trade and occupation of his forbearers. There were 162 00:19:37,809 --> 00:19:44,609 no career options, if you will, based upon merit and education and ambition. There was no provision for 163 00:19:44,609 --> 00:19:49,650 choosing who would rule over you. You consented to live under the king, prince, or lord you were born 164 00:19:49,650 --> 00:19:57,970 under, or else there was no freedom of the vote. No. And justice for you in those days was arbitrary. 165 00:19:57,970 --> 00:20:03,730 You had no right to a lawyer or trial by jury or a fair, speedy trial. These kinds of things were 166 00:20:03,730 --> 00:20:09,329 unknown. The judge or prosecutor could do whatever they wanted with you. On and on we could go. The kind 167 00:20:09,329 --> 00:20:16,049 of personal freedom we know today was utterly unknown to the ancient. Freedom as we know it today, 168 00:20:16,049 --> 00:20:23,809 personal, individual, accompanied with unalienable rights, began with Jesus of Nazareth and his basic 169 00:20:23,809 --> 00:20:30,529 premise of freedom. When he said, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know 170 00:20:30,529 --> 00:20:38,210 the truth and the truth will set you free." This foundational freedom is spiritual freedom, 171 00:20:38,210 --> 00:20:46,289 dear listener. Faith in Jesus sets us free from sin and death. Jesus pointed out to those around him, 172 00:20:46,930 --> 00:20:51,410 some of whom were followers, some of whom opposed him, he said, truly, truly, I say to you, 173 00:20:51,410 --> 00:20:59,809 everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed." 174 00:20:59,809 --> 00:21:07,890 Unquote. Oh yes, from gospel of John number eight. This is the prior freedom, dear listener. Come alive 175 00:21:07,890 --> 00:21:14,289 in Jesus by believing in him, and you will pass from spiritual death to spiritual life, and you will 176 00:21:14,289 --> 00:21:20,690 know the freedom from sin and death that Jesus revealed in his earthly ministry among us so long 177 00:21:20,690 --> 00:21:27,809 ago, preserved now in the scriptures. The thing is, over the long centuries of the growth of Christianity, 178 00:21:27,809 --> 00:21:35,250 as the faith grew, that spiritual life and freedom began to transform the culture and society as well 179 00:21:35,250 --> 00:21:42,289 as the church. People began to demand the kind of liberty they experienced in their spiritual lives, 180 00:21:42,289 --> 00:21:48,609 in their physical lives as well. And over the long, painful centuries, with many fits and starts, 181 00:21:49,329 --> 00:21:57,329 advances and setbacks, accompanied by rivers of blood, sweat, and tears, we come to the Founding Fathers, 182 00:21:57,329 --> 00:22:05,490 who had each made it their personal mission to be students of that history. Men like Thomas Jefferson 183 00:22:05,490 --> 00:22:11,730 had read the classics as well as their own contemporaries like John Locke or Montesquieu 184 00:22:11,730 --> 00:22:18,769 or Frédéric Bastiat. They read these guys such that they knew to their toenails that liberty is anchored 185 00:22:18,769 --> 00:22:25,250 in biblical principle and Western tradition. And as a result, Jefferson could write in that famous 186 00:22:25,250 --> 00:22:31,809 document, we hold these truths to be self-evident. Now, that's a technical term for philosophers. 187 00:22:32,609 --> 00:22:37,650 That is, I don't have to rehearse here in this document all the biblical proofs and citations 188 00:22:37,650 --> 00:22:43,250 from the great thinkers to persuade you. No, we've done our homework. Now you go and do your homework 189 00:22:43,250 --> 00:22:49,569 if it's not self-evident to you. That's the sense of self-evident. And for the Founders, 190 00:22:49,569 --> 00:22:57,329 what was self-evident is that all men are endowed by their creator, ding, ding, ding, ding, with certain 191 00:22:57,329 --> 00:23:06,210 unalienable rights. And that among these, not limited to, but just a sample, right, among these 192 00:23:06,210 --> 00:23:12,849 are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Consequently, we can say without hesitation that this 193 00:23:12,849 --> 00:23:19,650 is one of the most profound gifts that America has given to the world, dear listener, never to be 194 00:23:19,650 --> 00:23:30,130 forgotten and never to be denied to free thinking men who are willing to fight for that liberty. We are 195 00:23:30,130 --> 00:23:37,569 poised on a precipice, dear listener. We must fight for these liberties. Well, just remember, as you look 196 00:23:37,569 --> 00:23:46,930 back on America, dear listener, we've done this. Once again, over 250 years of painful fits and starts, 197 00:23:46,930 --> 00:23:53,569 advances and setbacks accompanied by rivers of blood, sweat, and tears, we have made what the Founding 198 00:23:53,569 --> 00:24:04,289 Father so boldly created. We have made for us, this is ours. It is a reality in a lost and slavish world. 199 00:24:04,289 --> 00:24:12,609 This is what makes the United States of America so unique in history. It is up to us now, dear listener, 200 00:24:12,609 --> 00:24:19,569 to improve upon our heritage and pass that heritage on to our children and our children's children. 201 00:24:20,369 --> 00:24:29,329 Many threats and obstacles remain before us, and more on that in weeks to come. Yeah, there's still a lot 202 00:24:29,329 --> 00:24:35,410 of obstacles and threats to this liberty, and there probably always will be. So, it's nothing new in 203 00:24:35,410 --> 00:24:44,369 our generation. So, though we face many threats and obstacles, we are free men and we will not be stopped. 204 00:24:45,250 --> 00:24:54,049 What America has begun will continue to grow despite setbacks. It is as inevitable as the rising and 205 00:24:54,049 --> 00:25:01,809 setting of the sun as certain as the earth in its course around the sun. God has ordained indeed that 206 00:25:01,809 --> 00:25:09,009 first there will be spiritual liberty for the individual believer, and as it works, as it gestates, 207 00:25:09,009 --> 00:25:15,569 and gives birth in the heart of those believers, it indeed will create also cultural, societal, 208 00:25:15,569 --> 00:25:25,329 and political liberty as a natural out product, as a natural result of that liberty, that spiritual 209 00:25:25,329 --> 00:25:34,930 liberty. So, dear listener, consequently, with those truths in view, do not be discouraged. Do not be 210 00:25:34,930 --> 00:25:41,809 deterred. Keep alive what has been given you and teach it to your children and your children's 211 00:25:41,809 --> 00:25:49,250 children if you are so fortunate to see them. Just know that if you are so blessed to see your 212 00:25:49,250 --> 00:25:56,210 children's children, it is because of God's good providence over your life, and because he has seen 213 00:25:56,210 --> 00:26:03,329 fit to place you in a time and place to live as a free man in the greatest country in history, 214 00:26:03,329 --> 00:26:11,730 the United States of America. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 215 00:26:11,730 --> 00:26:18,609 New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and 216 00:26:18,609 --> 00:26:24,930 Boulevard, and we do indeed worship our Lord in freedom and in liberty and in the truth of the 217 00:26:24,930 --> 00:26:32,930 gospel. So, we would just suggest that if you want to check us out, come to us on Sunday morning at 10 218 00:26:32,930 --> 00:26:38,769 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and you can call us for more information or 219 00:26:38,769 --> 00:26:49,650 some feedback at area code 208-523-0196. That's 208-523-0196.